Families lash out over ferry response

February 06, 2006|By From news services.

SAFAGA, Egypt — Family members of passengers on a ferry that sank in the Red Sea protested on Sunday as they waited in vain for news of their loved ones, accusing Egypt's government of mishandling the rescue after the ship went down with more than 1,400 people on board.

Only a handful more passengers were pulled from the sea, dashing hopes for some 800 people missing and feared dead.

Lawmakers called for investigations and said the ship's owner had been responsible for previous disasters. Egyptian officials said the captain was missing.

On Sunday, police put the number of those rescued at 401--up from 376 on Saturday. A total of 195 bodies have been recovered.

The Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98 was carrying more than 1,400 passengers and crew members when it sank early Friday about 55 miles from the Egyptian Red Sea port of Hurghada. Most of the passengers were Egyptian workers returning from Saudi Arabia.

Outside the Red Sea port in Safaga, where survivors were being taken, about 100 family members shouted at police and criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for not providing more information.

"Where is the president, where are our sons? Where are the bodies? We want to know the fate of the children," yelled the protesters.